Elzevir Rota
Elzevir Rota Race: Rathii Slaveborne Age: '''314 (Time Locked) '''Height: 5’ 10” Weight: ~160 lbs Hair: Black with a few strands of gray starting at the roots Skin Tone: Slight tan Skin Texture: Hard, callused and scared in several areas Eye Color: Dark green Accent: (See Christopher Ecclestion for reference) Recognizable Features: '''Green smoke that leaks from his eyes occasionally '''Spoken Languages: Common, Rathii Left or Right Handed: Right Deity: Azuth, Guardians of Rath Class: Wizard Alignment: LN Relatives: None 'Base Ability Scores ' Strength: '10 '''Dexterity: '''14 '''Constitution: '''14 '''Intelligence: '''18 '''Wisdom: '''12 '''Charisma: '''10 'General Character Information Hobbies: '''Writing, Reading, Smithing, Acting, Smoking, Sailing '''Loves: Coats, Red Wine, Magic, Music, tea Fears: Not having free will, The Guardians of Rath, Statues Hates: '''Ignorance, Traitors '''Weaknesses: Logical to a fault, Quick to threaten 'Appearance' El cares much for his appearance, constantly changing his clothing and trimming his beard and hair every few days to avoide split ends. Mostly relying on heavy clothing to hide his gruesome collection of scars, whip marks litter his back, some of them still appearing fresh from the necrotic energy infused with the whips his masters incoporated. Dark burns are on his upper and forearms from torture manacles and a signum that was burned into his chest which he’s seems to carry with a pride uncommon amongst ex-slaves. He also has a blue hourglass like scar burned into the bottom of his left forearm. El tends to keep his face in the best condition possible, always wearing a helm in tough situations. A dark circle is under each of his eyes, which seem to carry an age far beyond his appearance. His posture is generally lax and he leans forward much of the time, his hands constantly in his pockets or tucked into his belt near his wands. It rare he’s up and about needlessly, he prefers to remain stationary whenever possible. 'Personality' Elzevir’s mind can be summed up in very few words: Calm, busy and efficient. The man is a walking think tank, refusing to settle on one thing to contemplate at any one time. He has made it a personal policy to keep his mind as busy as possible, his method seems odd to most. Patience is the key to this method; start thinking and then stop, letting the answers come to you. It allows him to handle an absurd amount of subjects at any one given time. This patience and calm spilling over into everything he does, in a conversation when he isn’t the main speaker, he sits and waits for the moment where his word will carry the most weight and he’s short and blunt then. Some take his sudden, honest words as offensive or abrasive. He sees no point in shying from the truth and to “calls ‘em like he sees ‘em”. He must always weigh every option before acting, attempting to predict the effects a choice would have in the long run, staying five steps ahead is everything to him. El feels a great since of regret about the fall of his home and his masters. Thought he was a slave and subject to their cruel methods, by brainwashing or sheer insanity, he cannot hate them, he saw them as gods. He’s unsure which he felt more, fear or envy when it came to the Rathii. He bears a terrible burden on his shoulders; he feels the legacy of the entire Slaveborne and all of Rath, rests with him. Matters concerning his home, he feels must be handled by him alone, he refuses for others to get involved, fearing their actions might upset the delicate plans he has made. Fear has little part in Elzevir, but one thing above all shakes him to the core, free will. If he was made to serve, how can he be sure his thoughts are his own? Does he have a destiny and what could it mean now that his home was brought to ruin? That alone is what continues to drive him towards his eventual confrontation with Ijanus. He wishs to know what rules a man, his fate, or can a man choose his own end? 'Biology' As a Slaveborne, Elzevir was subject to a series of genetic modifications to make him a better servant. Slaveborne are designed to mimic their master’s appearances: dark hair, small fangs and eyes of a solitary color. During the creation process, the appropriate material is placed into a vat with blank cells from which an embryo is formed. That embryo is cultivated into a “human” in their prime in a matter of two months. The aging process is then retarded, allowing slaves to live well into their second century before needing additional modifications to continue life or be recycled. Sleep and food were intended to be less of a burden for slaves, requiring sleep once every seventy-two hours and one meal a day to remain in peak health. The digestive tract is specifically designed to find a place for all material somewhere in the body, the rate at which food is absorbed is dependent on when the last meal was ingested. The metabolism will slow when food is scarce and accelerates when it is plentiful. During times of starvation, the body would start to eat away at its own internal organs which had faster regenerative capability then normal humans, allowing them to live off their own body tissue for several weeks before irreversible harm was done. Slaveborne were also subject to a special form of designed obsoletion. The body would decay slowly over the course of a decade at which time the slave had to return to the place of manufacture and undergo a series of treatments to rejuvenate their cellular structure. This was merely a way to ensure that undesired Slaveborne would be easily taken care of and valued ones would still turn a profit every few years for the manufactuer. If a servant was diligent enough, a process that halted the decay would be undertaken, making them closer to the Masters but still a slave, although with more rights. Slaveborne were also "programmed" to follow certain objectives. While additional protocols could be installed, three were always present: #Always obey the Masters. #Never harm a Rathii. (subject to removal during times of war.) #Never let a Rathii come to harm by inaction. (Subject to removal during times of war.) Elzevir was also programmed to have the first rule be subjected to the House Ijanus hierarchy, being able to disobey a lower member if one of their instructions conflicted with an order issued by a higher ranking house member. During the time Elevir traveled through the deserts of Rath, because of how subjective the DNA of a slaveborne was, the temporal distortions mutated him in such a way that he became "Time Locked". His body remaining the same way, immune to the passing of time. This, of course, only further his insanity as the passing of eons would mean nothing to his flesh. 'Relationships ' Elura – The first ally Elzevir made since his arrival to Mistriven. The only being he trusts more than her is Rahab. She’s saved his life more times than any and he intends to balance the status quo. She is the only mortal he actually could fear. Joan – El was the first person to greet Joan to Mistriven and since they have met, she has made it a mission to shape Elzevir into a better person, starting with religion. After much pestering from her, he found a home in the faith of Azuth. He won’t speak it, but he holds a great respect for Joan and has found himself confiding in her often. He helps her however he can and will defend her with both word and magic at the drop of a hat. He takes up the tasks that her code prevent her from performing, taking the darker paths and choices that she can not take. Rapture – El finds a certain elegance in her method of combat. He’s very interested in helping her start and maybe work in her tea shop. Isiolia – Elzevir has been 'adopted' by Isiolia as her brother. The two are extremely like minded and share several similarities in both ability and past. He confides in her more than anyone else and respects her experience and knowledge, at times claiming she is the only mage around who is his superior. He cares deeply for her and looks to her for help in matters where others can not. Ijanus “The Black Bladed Mercenary” - A figure that has haunted El in visions since he gazed into that odd pool so long ago, he knows he is the Guardian of Death in Rath and that he survived the destruction of his home. That is all. Kain – An enigmatic and omnipotent being from Rath and the Guardian of Time. Less is known about Kain then Ijanus. El knows he struck down Ijanus and threw him into a pit, but other than that. The man is a riddle within a labyrinth. Krish’ah’gik – Another mystery El brought with him from his home. Known only to him as “The Presence”, Krish’ah’gik holds Elzevir’s mind together from all the stress he’d accumulated from the loss of his home and the wandering the time shatter renments. He also regulates when a vision will be granted to El, letting loose the knowledge that the pool threw into his mind. The Wizard believes him to be of the “Unspoken” the Rathii mentioned in hushed voices. 'Rahab' Elzevir’s familiar and most trusted compatriot. Rahab is shockingly intelligent for an animal, easily smarter than most humans and he isn’t afraid to use that. The two met during a brief trip El had to the Beastlands and as a creature from that realm, Rahab bears the ability to speak, though he rarely utilizes it, fearing it will cause problems for himself and his master. Rahab is the playful side which El seems to so commonly lack. His preferred game is “keep away”, he loves nothing more than grabbing someone’s hat and dashing off to a hiding spot. The two prefer to speak to one another through the telepathic bond a wizard shares with their familiar, at times the pair is seen exchanging a knowing smile to one another at some unheard joke. El tries to get Rahab to play chess with him from time to time and the Panther’s unpredictable tactics have proven time and again, to be the Wizard’s downfall. It comes as no surprise that Rahab will commonly use his appearance to get free food from random travelers, dashing off and giving them what El calls his “desperate, feed me look”. Rahab’s responsibility in a fight is to stalk the Wizard in the shadows, playing as reconnaissance mostly, only showing up to deal a blow to a target the Wizard’s minions have trouble dealing with and then slinking back into a new hiding place. 'Background ' Elzevir was commissioned for the House Ijanus as a house hand at first, cooking, cleaning, butler duties, basic labor. He reached full maturity in less than the typical two months, leading to some difficulties and muscular deficiency, causing his mind to be stuck in a younger state where knowledge was better absorbed, while his body was left very physically weak. The fresh Slaveborne was left in a gestation chamber in a comatose state while the necessary modifications were made to his body through magical means. After three weeks of modifications, Elzevir was put under the care of one of the house arcanists. In the ten years he was in his service, he was subject to expirements which to this day are unknown to him and sometimes come roiling into existence when key events trigger them to surface. One of these was to be infused with shadows which would form a defensive shell around his vitals in combat, which surfaced when he was used in the combat arenas where houses pitted their gladiators against others. After performing poorly in the melee competitions, he was put to work doing hard labor, mining the vast mountains of Rath for gems and metals. After six years in the mines, under the whips of the caretakers, Elzevir returned to the House Ijanus where he served as a butler before returning to the side of the wizard he first served, this time as an aid in cataloging and maintaining his libraries. He would serve there for thirty years before the society of the Rathii fell. Elzevir watched as time unraveled, the land slowly dying and life fading from the planet. He wandered the cast deserts of black sand, writing down everything he saw and gathering what texts survived. After two hundred and fifty years of traveling the desolate landscape, El came to a strange pool with lightning arcing over its surface. When he knelt down to examine in, secrets poured into his head and remain locked away till this day, but with that wealth of knowledge came it’s cataloguer, Krish’ah’gik. This entity makes itself known by a trail of green smoke that will leak from El’s eyes at times of stress and a green streak that follows his spells. Krish’ah’gik served a vital role in Elzevir’s existence. He dulled certain parts of the Mage’s mind, mostly his emotions and keeping his mind from straying to dangerous places, in doing so keeping him sane and able to work his spells in the chaotic, failing tapestry that governed magic in Rath. With the entity guiding Elzevir through the wastelands, the two escaped to the Blind Eternities where they found their way to the Great Wheel and then the Beastlands. In the Beastlands, Elzevir lay broken and unconscious, Krish’ah’gik took control of his body and moving it to a safe location before the planes inhabitants could find him. Unfortunatly, the cave the entity took the wizard to was inhabited by a panther which quickly overpowered Elzevir’s weakened and drained form and shockingly…asked who he was. Elzevir regains conscious shortly after the struggle and had a lengthy conversation with the cat that hunted for him and did what was in his power to help him heal. The two decided to explore the multiverse together for a time as scholar and guard. He’d later name this cat Rahab and the two became inseparable, even undertaking a ritual to bind their life force together. Once El was well enough to travel, the two ventured to the Abyss, following a trail left by one of the last surviving Rathii, Ijanus. The two witnessed the Blood War and shared their opinions on it before departing to the Grey Wastes, Rahab found the place unbearable and retreated to the Beastlands until El did what he had to. The wizard followed a pull into his mind until he witnessed the spectre of a Hag stretch her talons out, digging into the earth like acidic roots. Her body sunk into the ground with a soft cackle, just a few poisoned plants remaining where she once stood. What he was to take from this experience he did not, and doubtfully ever will, know. Krish’ah’gik however, drew some sick satisfaction from this, seeing the meaning behind the image. After the Wizard and Panther reunited, they headed out to follow another of Ijanus’ trails. They arrived in Toril, in the desert of Anauroch. There the connection faded into non-existence. El would then travel south-west to the shore, finding work as a sellsword for a group of pirates and finally settling in Mistriven where he knows something waits for him. OOC Information Link to his Journal - http://deepingdale.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=b6&action=display&thread=9172